An Update on Summer Activities

Although the LL.M. Program is not in session over the summer months, a lot of exciting work takes place during this time.

This summer, we are pleased to report two improvements in our physical facilities.

• Thanks to generous assistance from our alumni, we have been able add audiovisual capability to the new LL.M. Study. We will now be able to use this spectacular room for classes and special lectures as well as study space. Special thanks to Lisa Schreurs for her work coordinating this project.

• And, the school of law is in the process of renovating two of its classrooms to integrate state-of-the-art video conferencing and classroom capture equipment. The video conferencing equipment will allow us to further expand our use of digital video conferenced (DVC) lectures and discussions.

Meanwhile, Professor Kelley and I have had a busy travel schedule. He began the summer with a visit to Ukraine where he made presentations to a number of audiences, furthered our DVC collaboration plans with law schools in Ukraine, and worked on plans for the visit of Ukrainian judges and law professors this fall. He was then off to Russia to attend an international law conference in St. Petersburg. His next venue was Vienna, Austria where he participated in the World Justice Forum. More on that in a special post.



I have been basing my work from our farm in southern Minnesota this summer. I made my annual trek north with all of the dogs and cats in tow (not literally, of course; they ride in the comfort of a van).

I met Christopher in Vienna where I was delighted to hear about some of the exciting work going on at the World Justice Forum and to meet some of the participants. While the forum was in session, I had the opportunity to tour the beautiful city and to sample the local cuisine.
A separate post on that . . .


I am writing this post from our farm in Minnesota, back at work on the new agricultural law casebook that I am working on for Carolina Press.

It has been many years since the publication of the initial Agricultural Law J.D. casebook written by Professors Don Pedersen (University of Arkansas and former Director of the LL.M. Program), Keith Meyer (University of Kansas), and Norman Thorson (University of Nebraska) was published, and that fine work is now out of date. It is my hope that this new issues-based casebook will provide law professors with an interesting opportunity to teach an agricultural law survey course based on current issues involving our food system.

Christopher will soon head back to Ukraine where he is teaching a session on legal writing to Ukrainian summer law clerks and participating in the strategic planning process for the international firm that he works with, Inyurpolis.

Throughout the busy summer, we have enjoyed hearing from our new LL.M. candidates, fielding questions about the program and assisting them with their plans. I am particularly pleased to report that our most recently admitted candidate from Ukraine, Ulyana just received her visa and will be arriving in Arkansas next month.

We will be posting an introduction to each of our candidates soon - this year promises to be another excellent year for the LL.M. Program. Stay tuned!